Game Art Comp #9: Submissions

#41

Congrats Serul, you deserve it!

ElysiumGX:I think a vehicle challenge would be a nice change as well.

#42

no.

i already got reemed because i didn’t use “all the polys” last time, and the time before, and the time before :slight_smile:

#43

Congrats again to everyone who finished.

I just wanted to comment on a few things on some of the presentations of the pieces that I saw that coluld have been addressed. When you are presenting something, what you say has a lot of influence on how your work will be recieved. Being humble has it’s place for improving one as an artist, but when you present something, talking about your shortcomings or your consrictions does not help your audience get excited about your work. Also, in a medium like a forum where people read your words, you can’t always get away with “selling” an idea with just words as easily as when speaking. What I mean is some people can really talk a concept into something the actual work isn’t, nothing wrong with this kind of skill, but it is a little tougher to do in here. Lastly, these are words people always say, but it is true: “Never show unfinished work,” I would also like to add, never talk about unfinished work. There was some issues about weapons in the entries, and even mentioning in your presentation or showing them in your wires shows there was stuff you didn’t have the time to fully realize, thus may have not planned the time for…this takes away from the piece looking “finished.”

I learned a lot by judging your work, and hopefully will be your competition at the next one:p

#44

I would tend to disagree with that statement…in most cases time constraints do not allow for a model to be “finished”, you get done what you can within the time frame and then move on (this is true of both personal and professional work). This was especially true in this competition. I doubt that any of the entries were truly finished, we got done what we could by the deadline and entered it. Including an unfinished weapon might just be an attempt to meet the entry requirements. If we didn’t show unfinished work, we’d have nothing to show at all.

I know in my case I just slapped everything together at the last minute, not especially concerned if my textures were finished - because I had to meet the deadline.

Most modelers I know never “finish” their models, they just get it to a point where it’s presentable and turn it in - I for one could tweak a model till the end of time and still not be completely satisfied.

-K.

BTW: congrats to Serul on his win! Very well deserved!

#45

KWAK: very true… but then an artists work is never complete :wink:

Serul: nice idea actually it’s very original and, I also agree that this would provide splendid practice for all us artists who prefer organic?

ah I would probably do something either mecha or canon tank, or maybe— well enough jib… u see your idea has already got my wheels spining.

I will most certainly enter this one as contestant something like this. :wink:

ah Neil, wouldn’t this higher limit push at your skillz, and provide you with a great opportunity to test, try, and give more width to your abilities?..

#46

That’s what I was getting at :wink:

#47

I used to do nothing but high poly work. For me that just turned into a factor of putting more time into a model as appose to more skill. I don’t have the time to model the shoe laces and treads on a pair of shoes, for me just doing it in low poly and using a texture still gets the same point across. We are at the point now of Doom3 engine and Source engine pushing high polys, but I still think they should conserve. (That is a whole side rant I don’t wanna get into though)
Basically when I talked with game companies and showed them my portfolio, their response was, “that’s great… but where is the low poly work?” I was thinking that if I can do high poly fine, then my skills must translate straight over to low poly too, and I don’t understand why they don’t get that. So basically I’ve realized that modeling a belt and buckle on a pair of pants is not really ‘pushing’ my skills, but trying to figure out how to best make that buckle and belt appear through minimal amount of faces and painted textures, that I found more challenging.

#48

Kwak said, “Including an unfinished weapon might just be an attempt to meet the entry requirements. If we didn’t show unfinished work, we’d have nothing to show at all.”

Yes, but you shouldn’t show work that isn’t textured or won’t be used in the final presentation, because it leaves the question open about the level of finish of your work. Finished meaning as good as you can get it in the allowed time. Anything that you started and couldn’t get to, shouldn’t be in your final presentation. A filmmaker doesn’t put a storyboard panel in a shot in his film. This was what I was trying to get at:p

Neil, that’s some good insite, but really anything costs time, painting the shoelaces takes both time of you doing it, and the time spent studying all the aspects of painting(not that anyone can know everything about painting.) Time versus skill is an interesting question to bring up, I am probably wrong, but I assume skill=time spent:p

#49

The reason why they don’t get that is because it’s not as cut and dry as that. Just because you can model really detailed high poly stuff in no way makes you good in low poly work. They are two totally different styles of modeling. Both take a special kind of technique and are approached from two totally different points of view. I have some really good friends in the film industry who can model something so good you could mistake it for being real but when it comes to low poly models they can’t hold a candle to some of my gamer friends. I personally think it’s harder to model low poly than high poly. IMHO modeling with limits take allot more skill than without. The only good skill set from high-res modeling you can bring to low-res is anatomy and proportions. Everything else you need to relearn. How to best position your wires were you can spare polies and where you can’t those are things you don’t need to deal with in high-res work. That’s why they want to see your low res-work, they really don’t get impressed with high-res work it’s just eye candy and frankly it’s not as difficult only time consuming. What impresses them is good low-res work.

#50

I agree. With high poly work, your goal is to create your mesh with as much detail as possible, and texture several maps with as much detail as possible. Your final result is an animation or a illustration that grabs the attention of those who appreciate your work.

In low poly, your goal is to come as close to that level of detail as possible, with strict limitations on everything. A highly optimized mesh with only a couple low resolution maps. Every edge, and every pixel has a purpose. Your final work is often a small piece of a much larger puzzle that must fit perfectly.

#51

I don;t want to get into this poly tri debate… But for 5 years the only thing I’ve done it high poly, and when I realized I needed to do low poly it was hard in the beginning, but with some practice now it seems far easier and faster then my high poly, I still use the same skill/style and seems to work out good.

I agree, with you guys on the subject, but the deferent between high and low poly is no big fish…

O_O SHIT THIS IS A BAD OMIN!! THIS IS MY 666’TH posT!

#52

Yep, I agree completely. I’d never done a low poly model up until 3 months ago - nothing but hi-poly for me. I got a job at a game house showing nothing but my high-poly work. I was all worried about low poly modeling, since people make such a big deal about it. Turns out it’s not any easier or harder then low, all the same techniques - and all in all a lot easier. Least that’s my opinion.

-K.

#53

No arguements from me. I enjoy low and high poly. I believe learning a skill from one can benefit the other.

#54

I can’t tell if you’re agree or disagreeing with me. My point was that i USED to think that highpoly skills would directly translate over, and then i realized that that’s not necessarily true. Either way, my whole point was that I didn’t want to see the poly limit continue to climb with each contest.

#55

Hehe
I not disagreeing or agreeing with anyone I just wanted to point out why they are probably wanting to see some low res-work. I am actually on your side about not raising the polygons on contests but the reality is that is the way the industry is going. So it’s something that happens. I mean if it did not we would still be doing 8 bit pixel contests. Which would be cool but not really going to help anyone improve or help the industry at all.

#56

Whens the new comp gonna be decided? I keep getting emails saying the thread has been updated, only to find this debate going on and on!

#57

Yeah Serul! You won, now you have to pay the price!!

Don’t worry about the mini challenge, I want that to just burble away in the background for a while. I always intended for it to be just some fun while the main challenge goes on. (this one has turned into a bit of a monster, though. The next one will be even more mini :slight_smile: )

#58

Yeah sorry guys, I’m right in the middle of a pretty hefty crunchtime at the moment.

Right now I’m planning on having the contest start sunday evening (which is for me sometime next monday morining), but I can’t make any promises.

I have a rough idea of what I want to do for the challenge (people seem to be interested in the technical modelling bit) and probably some where around 6 to 8 weeks. I just need to write the guidelines and rules down when I find the time.

So again sorry, I know you guys are eager to start again :). If it takes any longer and crunchtime gets in the way even more, I might have to pass it on to somebody else.
I’ll keep you guys updated. :slight_smile:

#59

Bah, if you cant do it in time just yell the theme and let someone else make the rules and stuff heheh.

votes for grrls in panties as lead char comp

#60

I had an idea last night - i know its looking likely that its gonna be a mechanical based comp, but what if we made ourselves? We are so used to making shapely women, muscly warriors and inhuman killing machines, what if we made our ordinary, podgy, misshapen bodies?
Modeling ourselves in our usual clothes would be pretty intresting - lots of photo reference and a good scope for the challenge as they would be judged on likeliness. It would also be good as a learning process on how to model ordinary proportions and photo-real textures.
Games arent all about fantasy, comic book and sci-fi characters, they have ordinary characters as well (silent hill 4’s is an exceptional example) and it would be good to see the face behind the avatar, as well as having a good laff!